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At first sight
David Mitchell's Ad Infinitum looks like a rather
poor design for a modular coaster but is actually
an intriguing flexible toy. The modules are
hinged together in such a way that it is possible
to bring each of them to the front in turn by
rotating them around their longer axis of
symmetry. Ref:
M1020 / Diagrams were published in British
origami magazine 175 of December 1995.
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Robert Neale's Magic
Star
(also known as the Frisbee or Ninja Star) is a
uniquely wonderful modular design. Despite the
fact that the design of the modules is extremely
simple the rotor can be opened up (in stages)
until it becomes an octagonal ring. In both these
forms, and at each stage in between, the design
remains stable. Ref: XM1106
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Kenneth
Kawamura's Butterfly Ball is made from twelve
delicate butterfly modules. The assembly is
stable when resting on a surface but requires
careful handling. If, however, the assembly is
tossed gently into the air and hit hard with the
flat of the hand, the Butterfly Ball separates
into its component modules which flutter prettily
to earth. Ref:
XM1021
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David Mitchell's Ring
of Rotating Rhombic Tetrahedra is a particularly elegant
origami version of a traditional mathematical
toy. The joints between the tetrahedra are
flexible and so the whole ring will rotate
through its centre of symmetry. Ref: M1022 / Diagrams can
be found in Mathematical Origami - David Mitchell
- Tarquin 1997 - ISBN 189961818X.
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David Mitchell's Modular
Flip Flop is a reconstruction of a design by
the Danish paperfolder Thoki Yenn which has
become lost. The design is a modular origami
version of a well known mathematical toy with the
strange property that it will squash flat in two
different directions. Thoki Yenn has also
designed a remarkable one-piece version. M1024 / Diagrams not yet
available.
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David Mitchell's Modular
2-Way Tube is a simple modular version of
Robert Neale's 2-Way Tube (which can be made (in
several ways) from a single sheet of paper). The
2-Way Tube is a paradoxical object, which is to
say that it is two separate things (in this case
two tubes of differing proportions) at one and
the same time. Ref: M1025 / Diagrams were published
in British Origami magazine 184 of June 1997
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Hiroshi
Kumasaka's Joyful Units (also known as the
Rotunda) is a delightful flexible toy that
changes from an octagonal wheel (as pictured)
into an 8-pointed star and back again as the
units are rotated through the centre of symmetry
of the design. Diagrams are in Noabooks Kusudama
ISBN 4-418-88504-8. It was originally published
in NOA magazine no 119, then by Luisa Canovi in
the Italian games magazine "Contro
Mossa" in 1986.
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Tung Ken Lam's Jitterbug is a modular origami
version of the well known flexible toy of the
same name (made from metal rods and rubber
joints) which was designed by Buckminster Fuller.
By twisting the pierced square faces of the form
it is possible to collapse the cuboctahedron into
an octahedron. A second octahedron is obtained by
twisting in the opposite direction. |
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David Mitchell's Colour-Change
Collapsible Cube is a novelty cube that is strong
and rigid in one direction but can be collapsed
flat in another. Once flattened, the collapsed
cube can be manipulated, while resting on the
palm of one hand, so that each of the coloured
faces comes to the front in turn. Ref: M1023 / Diagrams
published in Tarquin publications magazine
Infinity 1 in Spring 2005.
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